


Nanami vs Juri vs the Closet

by dabblingDilettante



Category: Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena
Genre: Gen, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:22:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28310820
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dabblingDilettante/pseuds/dabblingDilettante
Summary: Wherein Nanami fails to understand allegories and Juri becomes the Utena of the day.
Comments: 10
Kudos: 48
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	Nanami vs Juri vs the Closet

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Yevie](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yevie/gifts).



> I loved this prompt /so much/ I had to do something. I don't know if this would live up to your original ideas, but I enjoyed writing it! Good YEAR!!!

“Juri,” Nanami said, one day.

The aforementioned individual, Juri, glanced over from her homework to Nanami. She didn't say anything in response, but raised her eyebrow in the universal gesture meaning - “What.”

“Juri,” Nanami repeated, drawing her name out like taffy. “I wanted to ask you a question about something you might know a lot about!”

Juri returned to looking at her homework.

“I know that someone of your...” Nanami paused. “Stature.” She stopped again to look at Juri, much to her vague frustration. “Has plenty of experience in the stranger aspects of life.”

“One could say that,” Juri said, dry. “Did you fall victim to amnesia, or is there a point to this.”

Though most would wither away at an expression such as Juri's, Nanami only took it as if it were praise to be acknowledged. “Let's say you wanted to lay an egg.”

“An egg,” Juri said.

“An egg,” Nanami repeated.

Juri's homework was important. Truly, it was the last line standing between her and leaving this godforsaken school, covered in bird doodles as it was. Perhaps it was because of a pink memory in her head, but she wasn't quite the no nonsense person she used to be – used to try to be. It had become harder to pay attention and excel and stand so tall, and. Nanami Kiryuu was standing before her with her hands on her hips, big confident eyes, in such a way that Juri couldn't focus on the homework at all.

“Alright. Let's say I wanted to lay an egg,” Juri sighed.

“But what if you wanted to lay a different kind of egg,” said Nanami. “What if normally, a girl laid red eggs. But maybe, instead of red, the girl was interested in laying an orange egg.”

“They're very similar colors,” Juri said.

“They're not,” Nanami said with the same level of absolute confidence in her voice.

“Fine. They aren't. Is there a specific process to this, or could this be simply resolved by using dyes.”

Nanami held up a finger. “It absolutely cannot!” In a moment, she had moved a chair next to Juri, and leaned close enough for her bushy hair to begin to tangle into Juri's curls. “The red egg is laid by acting the usual way. But the orange egg is laid by doing something else.”

“What would that be.” Juri wished she could say she was annoyed, but truly, she missed this. The absurdity. The fun. The nonsense.

Nanami opened her mouth as if to speak, but then bit her tongue. “What would you do?”

“....” Juri couldn't avoid speaking. Not when Nanami's expression shifted from abject excitement to a kind of awkward fear in an instant. “Humans don't lay eggs.”

“It's a metaphor,” Nanami sighed. “Or an allegory. I get them mixed up.”

“Then what does the symbolism mean,” Juri asked.

“What if... one day you woke up and thought to yourself, you were sick of it, and didn't actually like something,” Nanami mumbled.

Juri did that most days she woke up. In the past, she would have said – she'd bury it deep and deal with it because she couldn't change who she was or who she loved or where she was. But now - “I'd drop it,” she said.

“Right! And pick up something you did like, right?”

“I suppose,” Juri said. It was a more difficult act to replace something that had once taken up so much bandwidth in your mind and heart. “Is that where the orange egg comes in.”

“No, the orange egg is the outcome,” Nanami said. “The closet is the catalyst.”

“The … closet?” Juri asked.

“You know, the closet!” Nanami said.

“The closet,” Juri repeated.

“You know all about it, right?”

Juri took a deep breath. “What kind of closet are you talking about.”

“The one with the skeletons,” Nanami said.

“No, Nanami, I am asking you. Do you know I'm gay?”

At her words, Nanami's face turned beet red.

Juri fumbled through her next words. “Are … you gay? Too?”

“I have to leave,” Nanami said.

The girl was quick, if nothing else. Maybe that was why she was able to deal with fencing even with so little experience. Before Juri could reach out to her, Nanami was gone, and all that was left in her wake were flyaway hairs.

“An orange egg,” Juri muttered. “Huh.”

One could say that the power of revolution was the power to recognize a future. That did resonate with Juri. A future for herself and a future for her love to flourish.

The power of revolution could open up a coffin.

So, she figured, knocking on Nanami's door after Touga flamboyantly let her in. Even if she didn't have the power to revolutionize the world, she probably had enough power to open a closet door.

“I know you're in there,” she called into the room. “Touga already told me.” Juri tapped her foot against the ground. “I can see the empty plate on the floor out here. I know you ate.”

Nanami didn't answer, so Juri took the signal and walked into the room. Lo and behold – Nanami did have a large and fabulous closet. Frankly, Juri wouldn't be surprised if the girl kept a few skeletons in there. From the size of the room versus the distance from Nanami's door to the next room down the hall, the closet had to be at least half the size of the room itself.

“You can come out,” Juri said.

“It's okay,” Nanami yelled. “I've plenty of things to do in here. I don't know what I was thinking! Asking someone as tasteless as you what I should be doing.” Nanami laughed her particular laugh. “Next time, remind me to come back to my senses! It's almost like I'm letting Utena affect me.”

Utena.

Juri knocked. “If I'm so tasteless, why am I on the cover of six fashion magazines while you're on the cover of the national tabloids with a cowbell.”

It didn't take much.

In an instant, Nanami had exploded out of the closet, done up in a special ballgown, earrings and tights to match, and her hair cut short. “Because you're cuter than me!” she yelled as if she was angry about it. “Because you're cool and likable and tall and everyone listens to you and you're good at sports and you're gorgeous whether you're androgynous or feminine and you're! You're!” Nanami took a massive breath. “You're ORANGE.”

Juri stared for a long moment before puffing out a single laugh.

Nanami was as beet red as she'd been earlier, but it was – cute. It was nice. It was fun. It was … nice to hear. So many things. From another girl.

“And you're gay,” Juri laughed.

“I know you are, but what am I,” Nanami muttered. Her hands covered her face, eyes barely covered by her fingers. “...I'm gaaaaaaaaaaaay.”

For whatever reason, Juri just kept laughing and wrapped her arms around Nanami in a hug.


End file.
